Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Headlines - Tuesday August 2

"So I made the decision not to jump up immediately and leave the classroom. I didn't want to rattle the kids. I wanted to project a sense of calm. I had been in enough crises to know that the first thing a leader has to do is to project calm." - Bush, still lying about freezing up on 9/11 at the Florida school. Link

"Osama bin Laden's attack is underway, Mr. President."

Yeah, that's what ALL great leaders do when told they're under attack - they freeze and think of the thirty people closest to them, instead of the 311 million citizens who would like to have their government respond and defend against the on-going attacks.

I guess hiding on Air Force One until a clean pair of pants could be found is another example of how a president should react during wartime.

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Teabagger's Tail Wag -Boehner the poster child for all that is wrongGuardianUK

When Boehner took the gavel from Pelosi in January, Republicans cheered a new era in Washington, inaugurated by an all-out assault on women's reproductive rights, the healthcare bill and a series of negotiations intended to bring government spending to heel. But though the speaker sets the agenda, he quite clearly took his cues from a boisterous set of backseat drivers: his new Tea Party members.

Fast forward to July, and the dewy-eyed freshman class (and their more tenured conservative coattail-riding colleagues) are threatening to take the wheel from Boehner altogether, over what they view as his stubborn willingness to compromise one iota with the administration over raising the debt ceiling to avoid a default by the US government.

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Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke on the Senate floor about the public's strong belief that additional revenue from the wealthy should be part of any package to reduce red ink. He cited a new Washington Post poll that found 72 percent favor raising taxes on those who make more than $250,000 year. Despite those overwhelming numbers, he said, "We are marching down a path which will do exactly opposite of what the American people want."

Obama can't push legislation thru that has the backing of 72% of the people? We have a weak president.

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Aw, Newticles is upset that his crash-and-burned campaign isn't getting serious coverage from the media. After all, he's the candidate with the most Twitter followers.

Even if we take Fischer's number as accurate, that 1.5% represents millions and millions of Americans who go hungry every day. But that's OK! Glory! Praise his name!

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The cuts in discretionary spending are going to hit the states in a seriously bad way — and, subsequently, poor people.

While the details of the spending cuts to states remain unclear, lawmakers from both parties have discussed the need to cut or impose caps on so-called discretionary spending over the next decade.

That could mean wide-ranging cuts in federal aid to states, affecting everything from the Head Start school readiness program, Meals on Wheels and worker training initiatives to funding for transit agencies and education grants that serve disabled children.

There also was concern among governors, state lawmakers and state agency heads that Congress would make deep reductions or changes in federal aid for health services for the needy, most notably through Medicaid. That could shift more of the costs onto states that already are having trouble balancing their budgets.

Of course many of the states have austerity baked into their constitutional pies with balanced budget amendments. Do we seriously believe they'll raise taxes on the rich to fill in the gap left by discretionary spending cuts?

An immediate economic collapse was avoided, but the slow backslide is yet to come.

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Nope. Not Racist At All.

Republican Representative Doug Lamborn (R-CO) is easily today's worst person. Here he is speaking on the Caplis and Silverman radio show last Friday

"Now I don't even want to have to be associated with [Obama], it's like touching a tar baby and you're stuck, you're part of the problem now. You can't get away."

That said, the CBO score does bring to mind a fairly consistent trend in recent policy debates. For all of the obsessive attention, especially from the right, focused on reducing the deficit, Republicans have a nasty habit of rejecting ideas that actually help close the budget shortfall.

The Democratic effort to let Bush tax cuts for the rich expire would lower the deficit ... and Republicans oppose it.

The Democratic energy/climate bill would lower the deficit ... and Republicans oppose it.

The Democratic effort to reduce bloated Pentagon spending would lower the deficit ... and most Republicans oppose it.

It's almost as if Republicans say they care about deficit reduction, until they're offered a chance to actually reduce the deficit.

If I didn't know better, I might think GOP officials don't think a deficit-reduction measure "counts" unless it undermines struggling families in some way. That couldn't be, could it?

Liberals seek budget "victories" that benefit working families and small business, not Wall Street or bond markets or Village analpundits or repug nihilists. For America's real economy, this deal is a catastrophic defeat.

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Is your state lege in the control of republicans? If it is, you need to inform yourself about the chicanery and shenanigans of ALEC. If you have a republican state rep or senator, ask them point blank if they are a member, and make them answer. If they try to weasel out of answering, assume yes. And a "yes" means they do not work for you. A yes means that they work for the Koch Brothers.

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Yup. those Koch Brothers sure do love them some democracy and fair elections! The David Koch-underwritten propaganda and election stealing outfit Americans for Prosperity has been especially active in Wisconsin, spending millions to boost Scott Walker and trying to help doomed republican state senators who are facing recall as backlash over supporting Walkers union-busting bill. Now they are sending out absentee ballots to Democratic voters in two districts. The mailers were obtained by Dave Catanese of Politico and tell the voters to return the paperwork by August 11 -- two days after the election. "These are people who are "ones" in the voterfile who we already knew. They ain't AFP members, that's for damn sure," said a Democrat who is deeply involved in the recall efforts.